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Lonely Man
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List Price: $14.95
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Product Details
- Starring: Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Elisha Cook Jr.
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- Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
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- Binding: VHS Tape
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- Director: Henry Levin
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- EAN: 9786302754506
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- Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, NTSC
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- ISBN: 630275450X
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- Label: Paramount
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- Manufacturer: Paramount
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- Number of Items: 1
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- Product Group: Video
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- Publisher: Paramount
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- Release Date: 1998-01-01
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- Studio: Paramount
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- Theatrical Release Date: 1957
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- Title: Lonely Man
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- UPC: 097360561135
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Avg Customer Rating: 
Product Description: Apart from the inherent clarity and richness of its black-and-white VistaVision--a wonderful format--The Lonely Man could be mistaken for a mediocre "adult Western" episode from '50s TV. The sets look like sets, not living spaces, and people trade ponderous, pause-laden dialogue instead of talking. Jack Palance plays an ex-gunslinger--a papier-mâché death's head--trying to reconnect with son Anthony Perkins, who's grown up (or not grown up) hating him. Meanwhile, gambler Neville Brand, once shot by Palance, waits for henchman Elisha Cook to pick up Palance's trail so other henchman Lee Van Cleef can kill him (got that?). The backstory is so weakly imagined, and the scenes so wanly directed, we have no idea how many years of history the characters have shared, or how many miles separate them as they move toward showdown. Elaine Aiken, a curiously hard-faced blonde "introduced" here, was scarcely seen on screen again. --Richard T. Jameson
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Customer Reviews
The Lonely Man.
This is a movie I have always liked, the quality of the disc was very good and I have watched it several times.
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Like Henry King's "The Gunfighter," Levin equates victory with redemption...
Jacob Wade (Jack Palance) used to be a celebrated shootist just stepping into middle age and mortally weary of having to be asked to leave every town he rides into... To make matters worse, a few notorious outlaws, led by the vile King (Neville Brand), are also out to take him down...
Now he tries to do something for his boy Riley (Anthony Perkins) by catching and breaking mustangs in Echo Canyon, the best wild horse country in the territory...
Complicating the situations further is Jacob's bad relationship with a kid who hates him, and Ada Marshall (Elaine Aiken), a young woman whom Jacob met in a gambling hall, and shot a man on account of her...
Here is a thinking person's Western that deals with one ex-gunman who also is unable to shake his past and whose ultimate goal for taking root again is by lynching...
Levin shows a dark, depressing, and sadly realistic face of the west... In fact, the entire movie is a drama of characters... But watching the film, you would be able to feel how Levin equates victory with redemption...
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Great Palance Western
When we think of Jack Palance today, we often think of him as a bad guy, like in Batman or Shane. But back in the Fifties, he played a variety of roles, quite a few of them sympathetically.
And one of his best starring roles came in this film, about a gunfighter trying to live down his past, and build a relationship with his estranged son, played by Anthony Perkins. To complicate matters, Palance is going blind, which he keeps a secret from almost everyone, and he is also being pursued by a revenge-minded gambler, played by Neville Brand, who was shot by Palance some time back.
This is a beautifully filmed, poignant Western that deserves to be seen.
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Jack Palance at his best!
In this western, the only real format to aficianados, Jack Palance displays every ability expected of the finest actors. He is gracious, honest, even having been one of the bad guys. He is courageous to a fault, facing down a number of bad people at once at terrible odds. He even rates a traitors loyalty.This movie is a must-see if you liked "SHANE", and are tired of "RIO BRAVO" reruns, but like the genre. Someone in those days actually knew all the classic elements of a good story, and it's obvious when you see this flick. Todays special effects, with bullets whizzing by, would be the only possible improvement for this film. Don't miss it if you like westerns!!!
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